it’s annoying to me as a Fanfic Elder that y’all don’t understand how consent works in regards to reading fanfic

last night I saw a fic that had EIGHT of my favorite tags included and a great summary BUT it also contained a tag for a topic that bothers me. I weighed the pros/cons and decided NOT to read the fic because the ONE tag I disliked was something that could trigger a panic attack if the scene went into any sort of detail - it wasn’t worth risking the eight good tags.

from the first moment I noticed the fic to the moment I decided not to read it, the entire experience was MY RESPONSIBILITY. the author tagged the fic correctly, I knew what my limits were, and I respected them.

if you find a fic with tags you don’t like, JUST DON’T READ IT 

don’t harass the author, don’t post a big whiny rant about it on Tumblr, just keep scrolling

Anyway, the worst that will happen is I'll reread 20 fics I love, and which I haven't read for several years. I'll report back (somehow) as each pair results in a winner. I might have to literally draw the bracket and take photos of the drawing.

It will take me a few weeks to read all these; once I've read them all, I can do the rest of the bracket in a quick minute. To choose the starting 20, I just brainstormed fics from memory plus looked at my AO3 bookmarks, cut up the list with scissors, then drew at random from my AO3 coffee mug to determine the matchups.

Here are my first matchups (20 is a weird number for a bracket so it's a little convoluted, but I used a real 20-team bracket to set it up).

Family Ties by Saziikins vs. Over Fathoms Deep by bittergreens

[Above winner] vs. Fucking Cake by Random_Nexus

Two Two One Bravo Baker by abundantlyqueer vs. Just Like That by cwb

Sketchy by serpentynka vs. Jam Series by Persiflager

[Above winner] vs. Alone with the Devil by orphan_account

Yes Yes Yes by Basingstoke vs. Leveling Up by philalethia

Evidence of Human Life by thesardine vs. The New Year by greywash

[Above winner] vs. Somatic Theory by CaitlinFairchild

Ad Meliora (Towards Better Things) by lotherington vs. The Ground Beneath Your Feet by Chryse

Big Brother is Watching You by Flawedamythyst vs. The Progress of Sherlock Holmes by ivyblossom

[Above winner] vs. Riptide Lover by jinglebell

NewSub!John Headspace series by mugenmine vs. Albion and the Woodsman by Glenmore